Stanford University from Hoover Tower May 2011 001

Memorial Hall (informally referred to as MemAud), was built in 1937 to commemorate those students and faculty from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

who died in World War I. Designed by

Arthur Brown, Jr. Arthur Brown Jr. (1874–1957) was an American architect, based in San Francisco and designer of many of its landmarks. He is known for his work with John Bakewell Jr. as Bakewell and Brown, along with later works after the partnership dissolved ...

in conjunction with Bakewell and Weihe, construction of the building was funded primarily through student contributions. Prominent features of the building include a great central arched entry, large arched entries on the sides, covered colonnades on the sides, bare wall surfaces in rectangular segments, and a red tile roof typical of many Stanford buildings. In addition to containing a main auditorium with 1,700 seats (Memorial Auditorium proper), it also houses the drama department; Pigott Theater, a "little" theater with 200 seats; and Prosser Studio Theater, which seats 60. Some modifications to the auditorium's facade were made in 1997 by Sebastian and Associates, including new entry stairs, terrace, and accessibility ramp. Memorial Auditorium, as the largest indoor performance space at Stanford, is the site of performances, major speeches, academic conferences and student activities. Hot Chips, a symposium on hardware chips sponsored by

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operati ...

, is held each summer in MemAud. In terms of student activities, much of New Student Orientation takes place inside the auditorium; Flicks, the Stanford movie service, screens movies in MemAud once every week; and Gaieties, a major part of the Big Game activities, takes place there in the days before the actual game. Major speaker events are commonly held in MemAud because of its size, such as

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's "The Other America" speech on April 14, 1967, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in 1990, and the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

's visits in 2005 and 2010.

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*Map: {{Stanford Places Memorial Auditorium Buildings and structures completed in 1937 1937 in California Arthur Brown Jr. buildings Mediterranean Revival architecture in California